A coculture based, 3D bioprinted ovarian tumor model combining cancer cells and cancer associated fibroblasts

International audienceOvarian cancer remains a major public health issue due to its poor prognosis. To develop more effective therapies, it is crucial to set-up reliable models that closely mimic the complexity of the ovarian tumor’s microenvironment. 3D bioprinting is currently a promising approach to build heterogenous and reproducible cancer models with controlled shape and architecture. However, this technology is still poorly investigated to model ovarian tumors. In this study, we describe a 3D bioprinted ovarian tumor model combining cancer cells (SKOV-3) and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). The resulting tumor models showed their ability to maintain cell viability and proliferation. Cells were observed to self-assemble in heterotypic aggregates. Moreover, CAFs were observed to be recruited and to circle cancer cells reproducing an in vivo process taking place in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Interestingly, this approach also showed its ability to rapidly generate a high number of reproducible tumor models that could be subjected to usual characterizations (cell viability and metabolic activity; histology and immunological studies; and real-time imaging). Therefore, these ovarian tumor models can be an interesting tool for high throughput drug screening applications